See Numerous Beneficial Effects Of Potassium On Human Health!!!

Potassium is a mineral found in varying amounts in almost all foods. Vegetables, especially green leafy varieties, are generally our richest sources of potassium.

Along with sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium, potassium is an electrolyte, meaning that it helps to conduct electrical charges in the body. Like all the other electrolytes, our bodies have evolved elaborate systems to control blood levels in a narrow range.

Maintaining Normal Blood Pressure
Diets high in potassium are associated with improved blood pressure control. There are several mechanisms contributing to this beneficial effect, including improved kidney function, reduction in blood clotting, and more efficient opening of blood vessels. Because of these important benefits, therapeutic diets aimed at improving blood pressure control often place primary focus on increasing potassium from foods.

Kidney Health
Perhaps the most important way to ensure strong kidney health is to keep your blood pressure under good control. As discussed above, diets high in potassium are well known to help with this.

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing
Like other minerals, potassium is stable to storage. There are not significant changes to the bioavailability of potassium over the storage life of any important food. You do not need to take any special storage precautions to maintain the potassium content of your foods.

Cooking vegetables can lead to loss of some or much of their potassium content. If you follow our recipes carefully, however, enough potassium will be preserved to provide you with health benefits. For example, lightly boiling spinach in the way we describe in our spinach profile leads to a loss of about one-third of the total potassium.